Ramshorn Pond residents want Millbury money for repairs, but not public access

Wednesday

Nov 27, 2013 at 6:42 PM

By Susan Spencer, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

MILLBURY — In May, residents around Ramshorn Pond packed town meeting to vote to authorize borrowing up to $2 million, through a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion, to complete repairs on Ramshorn Pond Dam, which state regulators determined was in poor condition.

At Tuesday's selectmen's meeting, they filled the meeting room to object to the town's plans to add a 6-foot-wide canoe launch and small parking area at the southern end of the dam as part of its reconstruction. Currently there is no public access to the town-owned pond.

Selectmen asked Town Manager Robert J. Spain Jr. to ask town counsel whether inclusion of the parking and access improvements fell within the scope of the borrowing article approved at town meeting.

The issue, according to Mr. Spain, is that state law requires public access to so-called great ponds for boating, hunting or fishing, subject to town and state regulation. The state Department of Environmental Protection includes Ramshorn in its list of great ponds, which are defined as containing 10 or more acres, based on its 1996 waterways program study. The pond's surface area is roughly 131 acres, according to the schematic design report for the dam prepared by Pare Corp., the town's engineering consultants.

"My philosophy ... is that assets belong to all the town's people, not just a few. We have a responsibility to make it an asset for the whole town," Mr. Spain said Wednesday.

"We have to put parking in anyway so we can service the gate house. When they fixed it last time (in the 1980s) they didn't do it right."

The cost of the parking area, as part of the slope stabilization site improvements, would be $35,000 to $50,000, out of the total projected cost of $1.5 million to $1.9 million, said Department of Public Works Director Robert D. McNeil III.

Robert J. Morton, spokesman for the Ramshorn Pond Association, said Wednesday the group disagreed with the town's position that the pond requires public access.

"We think there are some questions that need to be answered," he said.

Mr. Morton pointed to a 1994 letter to the association from the DEP, which referenced a 1795 map for the township of Sutton, to which Millbury originally belonged, that delineated Ramshorn Pond as six acres. The department concluded then that Ramshorn was not a natural great pond.

However, the letter continued that its jurisdictional determination was subject to change based on additional information or changed circumstances. Residents could request a formal determination of applicability, which would result in a binding determination.

Mr. Morton said he did not know whether such a determination was ever pursued.

But he said that when the schematic design report was presented at an informational session Nov. 7, residents had been expecting to see a project timeline and were surprised by the access components.

"The project was expanded in scope to include the new ramp and parking," Mr. Morton said. "They believe that if this project is to go forward, it should be resubmitted to town meeting."

Mr. McNeil said the state Office of Dam Safety was reviewing the schematic design report. Work will begin on the final design in January.

Once the plan is final, the project will need to receive various permits. Construction would not begin for at least a year, Mr. McNeil said.

Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanSpencerTG